Microsoft develops hacker-proof iris scanner for future devices

Microsoft is exploring the realm of iris scanners on mobile phones and ways for future improvements in the area.

We can call Microsoft the pioneer of iris scanners on mobile devices, considering the fact that the tech company was the first one to introduce such technology on smartphones. Microsoft started with Lumia 950 back in October 2015. Now, it seems that the company is exploring the area again, and it’s looking for ways to improve it in the near future.

Microsoft has recently created an iris scanner that might be hacker-proof as it can definitely make a more accurate difference between the iris of an actual human being and the hi-res photo depicting an iris.

Security specialists have recently discovered that such security systems can be bypassed using HD photos of the users who were enrolled to gain access to a specific phone. The face and iris recognition systems unfortunately proved to be inefficient and vulnerable.

Microsoft’s hacker-proof system

Microsoft’s desire is to build a technology that is able to benefit from the 3D structure of the human eye, having dedicated cameras with incorporated elements that are going to be able to illuminate the iris before the whole scanning process. These cameras are then going to take photos of the eye from different angles, analyzing the 3D structure from multiple points and determining if the scanned element is a photo or a human being. Based on the conclusion, the user is going to be granted (or not) access to the phone.

For now, such technology is still in patent stage, but if it proves to be as successful as expected, Microsoft could use it in the future for improving Windows Hello on devices.

One device that could definitely benefit from this technology would be the Surface Phone, a device we still don’t know for sure if it exists or not, but we hope for the best.